The Hindu 17.08.2012
75,000 shops, but only 8,000 have licences, says HDMC
Although it is mandatory for traders to apply for trade licences from the municipal authority, many traders in Hubli seem to have ignored the rule.
A team from the Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation’s (HDMC) Standing Committee on Accounts inspected market areas in Hubli on Thursday. The team, led by committee chairman Sudhir Saraf and accompanied by HDMC officials, were in for a shock when they visited the busy market area on Coen Road here.
They found that less than 12 shopkeepers out of the 108 shops operating at the National Market had trade licences. Committee members took officials, including Health Inspector Y.N. Yaregunti, Senior Marketing Officer M.N. Puttanna and Marketing Inspector Raikar, to task for their apathy in initiating action against these traders. Mr. Saraf told presspersons that during the third meeting he noticed that only 8,000 traders had been issued trade licences, while there were approximately 75,000 shops in the twin cities.Although ward no. 53 had the city’s major commercial areas, only 192 traders had trade licences, he said.
Team members also checked various advertisement hoardings in the city. They found that advertising agencies had blatantly violated rules while installing hoardings . Many of the hoardings were larger than permitted, and advertising agencies had not displayed mandatory information, such as the permitted size and duration. Mr. Saraf said that because of the officials’ lax attitude, the corporation’s revenue was only Rs. 75 lakh, while it was supposed to collect around Rs. 2 crore.
He said that another drive would be launched after a week.
- ‘Advertising agencies had not displayed mandatory information’
- Revenue collected came to Rs. 75 lakh instead of the estimated Rs. 2 crore
